In short, the principal at Children's Workshop School is a genius. She can work the shitstem like no other. She has made lemons from lemonade and been able to grant access to all of the pre-k students who want to continue (only 2 opted out). We are pleased and ready to be all over the PTA next year, organizing and all, at least until I am exhauseted with the new little one.

Aram has a crazy new job which will allow him to simultaneously be an academic guru and a business executive. He is going somewhere he is appreciated. I hope they don't make him work too many hours. I appreciate him too, after all.

The little girl is letting her presence be known. She seems to like Indian and Japanese food, at least when I eat it. We're working on our yoga. I have been fortunate enough so far to not need an amnio. I am told that my tests show that I carry like a 30-year old. Sweet.

Simon is finishing his last week of pre-k and is excited for day camp, where I hope he'll learn how to swim, among other things.

These last 6 months have been pretty wild. I look forward to an exciting (but not too exciting) sequel.

I'll keep you posted.

Tags: aram, baby, pregnancy, school, simon
I feel: sleepy
I'm listening to: children playing

Okay we've got some issues out of the way. Simon's school - solved. Aram's job - solved. Pregnancy - halfway done. Gender - girl. Apartment - on it's way. My thought turn to strollers.

While I have said that I would never pay $700 for a stroller, I have also paid money for 3 strollers, in addition to having been giving a stroller "travel system". And that was just for Simon. What, then do we do now? I would rather not buy a whole lot of strollers again.

So what do I need? I need something that works from birth to age 4, that can survive the city streets, that I can attach a standing ride-on thing to, and that I can carry onto and off of a bus, plane or train without killing anything.

The obvious contenders are the quinny, the bugaboo, the maclaren, phil and ted. These are brands I didn't know existed before 5 years ago. The big deal with these guys mostly is that they are fancy and tough and kind of bulky. The bugaboo bee is a lot more streamlined, actually, but it still seems wide.

I like the Valco latitude. It's a three wheeler, goes over bumps pretty well and has a car seat adapter for infants. Cute.

Valco also makes a stroller called the Buggster which is even lighter. Same accessories. All the Valco stuff is compatible with a riding board attachment which isn't too pricey. I do wish the wheels were bigger.

People seem to love the Baby Jogger strollers. I'm skeptical. They seem bulky.

The bottom line has become that I may have to get super fancy on the stroller front especially since I'll be spending way less time in the car than I did with my little dude. I don't want homegirl waking up because we hit a crack in the sidewalk. Oy.

Tags: accessories, baby, nesting., strollers
I feel: geeky
I'm listening to: barack obama press conference